PCF at the Movies (9 Viewers)

[jbutler]

Just watched: The Drop and really liked it. Interested in others take on it if you have seen it.

Tom Hardy is currently one of the top 5 working actors out there right now IMO. James Gandolfini (RIP) was also pretty dam good in this as well.

really, really liked the drop. i think it was discussed briefly in the old thread on big blue, but i saw the drop and a walk among the tombstones (with liam neeson) pretty close together and it caused me to like the drop that much more. they're trying to do similar things with mood in genre film and the drop is so, so much more effective. hardy and gandolfini were fantastic, but so was noomi rapace whose performance seemed to be criticized in a couple reviews i read at the time. i don't agree - i thought she gave nearly as good a performance as hardy.

@B.C., did you see locke? it's one of the movies that i missed this year, but has gotten very good write-ups. it's basically hardy behind the wheel of a car for 90 minutes, but he pulls it off evidently. looking forward to it.

 

[jbutler]

saw a few movies over xmas weekend.

Boyhood

this was beautiful and absolutely deserves the accolades. it's not a traditional movie in the sense that there's not some plot that propels the action. there's no defined story arc. it simply follows a boy as he grows into an adult. in that way it's almost beyond criticism.

the background as most know at this point was that richard linklater got a core group to agree to meet once a year for 12 (i think?) years to film for a week or two, which provides for the completely natural aging of the cast. he really luckboxed into casting ellar coltrane as the boy because he grew into a very competent actor. every performance is solid, but patricia arquette and ethan hawke blew me away. despite the title directing our attention to the boy, the parents' stories are equally compelling. i was near tears several times.

it's nearly 3 hours, so realize going into it that it's not an action film or comedy that will keep your attention in that way. but if you can sit with it, it might be the best movie of the year.

The Babadook

the goddamn trailer is scarier than 95% of horror movies that have come out in the past ten years. the actual film will make your skin crawl. it's a real lesson in modest-budget filmmaking, too: a tiny cast and a minimalist, meticulously designed set are used more effectively than however many millions studios have blown on paranormal activity 4 or whatever else they've released. again, a child actor turns in a very solid performance. i don't want to spoil anything, but i was really glad the director - a first-timer aussie female - didn't go for the easy out at the end and committed to the story.

this would be a good double-bill with "we need to talk about kevin" which also effectively communicates the paranoid horror of parenting.

The Interview

i had basically no expectations, but also had no interest in seeing any of the other xmas releases (into the woods, unbroken, the gambler), so i decided to give it a shot. it's no pineapple express and while south park remains the standard bearer for dick-joke-and-subversive-satire humor, i was very pleasantly surprised. i had read a lot about the over-the-top violence at the end of the movie. perhaps we are just immunized to that stuff as modern audiences, but i wouldn't have even noticed if it weren't such a common complaint.

david edelstein - the movie critic at new york magazine - gushed about the movie. i think he went a little over the top just to be a contrarian, but he's right about the technical quality of the filmmaking. it was beautifully shot and very well-edited. probably 50% of the jokes hit, so given how many jokes the movie throws out, that works out to a pretty entertaining watch.

 

[jbutler]

saw A Most Violent Year this weekend and it was very, very good.

oscar isaac continues to be fantastic and jessica chastain continues to choose interesting movies even if her performance isn't quite as solid as isaac's. there's one element of the film that i think overpowers the rest. i either don't like that aspect of the movie or don't yet understand it fully. either way, i love everything else. it would be easy for oscar isaac to allow his character to become a caricature, but he doesn't and his portrayal is incredibly effective.

i think it technically came out on NYE 2014 in an attempt to get in for award season, but it was completely blocked out. i don't know why it wouldn't get a nod for screenplay or at the bare minimum a couple of the design awards - the set and costume design were amazing. in any case, very much worth seeing. it's not an action movie, so don't expect scarface/godfather-type mob violence. it has the pace of the type of character-driven drama that it is and it serves the movie well.

 

[detroitdad]

Watched margin call tonight with spacey. Very solid movie.

 

[ChaosRock]

Fun fact: I was living in Manhattan and working for a boutique wall street firm when they shot the movie... They used our trading floor during a few weekends to shoot some of the scenes... Never watched the movie so I don't know if the mess it was my desk made it to the final cut...

Watched margin call tonight with spacey. Very solid movie.

 

[jbutler]

Watched margin call tonight with spacey. Very solid movie.

Not sure if you knew but Margin Call was written and directed by J. C. Chandor who also wrote and directed A Most Violent Year which I posted about above. I never saw Margin Call but I also really liked his other movie All Is Lost (with Robert Redford) as well so I'm going to have to catch Margin Call sometime soon.

 

[bergs]

Not sure if you knew but Margin Call was written and directed by J. C. Chandor who also wrote and directed A Most Violent Year which I posted about above. I never saw Margin Call but I also really liked his other movie All Is Lost (with Robert Redford) as well so I'm going to have to catch Margin Call sometime soon.

Margin Call - great movie, great acting. Highly recommend it.

 

[Vinyard]

I concur...

 

[tommythecat]

Watched The Interview over the weekend...meh.

 

[jbutler]

Watched The Interview over the weekend...meh.

i guess i read so many mediocre reviews beforehand, my expectations were pretty low, so i enjoyed it. i won't be running to rewatch, though, fwiw.

 

[tommythecat]

I try not to read reviews before seeing a movie. I would much rather go in cold than be let down (or pass) based on a review.

Some of the jokes were good, but too much of it was a Franco-Rogen love fest for me.

 

[jbutler]

I try not to read reviews before seeing a movie. I would much rather go in cold than be let down (or pass) based on a review.

i feel the same. i try to avoid trailers even if possible, but avoiding commentary on the quality of the interview was essentially impossible if you were reading any tv/film writing in the week before xmas.

 

[tommythecat]

That's where it's easy for me. I don't read any TV/film writing.

 

[detroitdad]

Not sure if you knew but Margin Call was written and directed by J. C. Chandor who also wrote and directed A Most Violent Year which I posted about above. I never saw Margin Call but I also really liked his other movie All Is Lost (with Robert Redford) as well so I'm going to have to catch Margin Call sometime soon.

Its also on my list of movies to see.

My 18 yr old son is going to school for Actuarial Services. Anything with numbers, stock market, ect...... he is intrigued to watch. He DL'd it last week, then watched it again with me. The acting is solid. The story is well driven. The second act does move a touch slow. Well worth your 1.4 hours to watch it.

B

 

[detroitdad]

Raid 2..............WOW. If you liked the first one then you'll love this one. Its a touch long at 2.5 hours. Damn is it awesome. The fights are spectacular. Oh, they don't need to hide their shitty fight scenes with that shaky camera bullshit.

Loved it, will probably buy it.

 

[jbutler]

my thoughts on the oscars i cared about:

best supporting actor: jk simmons won and he absolutely should have. ed norton was also great, but jk was simply better.
best supporting actress: patricia arquette won and i was also glad for this one.
best production design: grand budapest hotel won. i didn't see it, so i can't be that mad, but i'd have given it to interstellar.
best cinematography: birdman won. among the nominees, i agree. would have been close with interstellar for me.
best score: grand budapest again. again, i'd have gone interstellar.
best original screenplay: birdman won and i'm on board. beautiful script.
best adapted screenplay: imitation game won and i thought the script was boring and typical. i'd have gone for inherent vice.
best actor: eddie redmayne for theory of everything. didn't see it. won't see it. don't care. give it to michael keaton or steve carell.
best actress: julianne moore for still alice. haven't seen it yet as it just came out, but no one else knocked me out, so ok.
best director: inarritu won for birdman and i was okay with that until...
best film: birdman. what. a. fucking. joke. boyhood was robbed.

birdman was number 3 or 4 on my top ten for the year, so it's not like i don't love it, but boyhood was truly transcendent. i've seen it three times in the theater now and it's gotten better and better the more i've watched it. not to get ahead of myself, but it might be in the top 3 in the 2010s.

anyway, dan kois said it best in slate: it was an epochal travesty to give it to birdman over boyhood. they both deserve acclaim, but that was a shame. then again, dan links to mark harris's article in grantland which accurately predicted that the academy voters are simply far too self-absorbed not to give best picture to a movie that is so squarely centered in their world of celebrity and "art".

 

[spikeithard]

Very happy JK won best supporting.

And I watched Locke last night - what pile of crap!!!! the ending... wait there was no ending! its like waiting to go on the worlds best and highest rollercoaster and then when you get on the lift and 3/4 the way up it just stops and you have to get out and walk down the stairs and then get in your car and go home and never go on the ride ever again. ughhh

 

[Chicken Rob]

my thoughts on the oscars i cared about:

best supporting actor: jk simmons won and he absolutely should have. ed norton was also great, but jk was simply better.
best supporting actress: patricia arquette won and i was also glad for this one.
best production design: grand budapest hotel won. i didn't see it, so i can't be that mad, but i'd have given it to interstellar.
best cinematography: birdman won. among the nominees, i agree. would have been close with interstellar for me.
best score: grand budapest again. again, i'd have gone interstellar.
best original screenplay: birdman won and i'm on board. beautiful script.
best adapted screenplay: imitation game won and i thought the script was boring and typical. i'd have gone for inherent vice.
best actor: eddie redmayne for theory of everything. didn't see it. won't see it. don't care. give it to michael keaton or steve carell.
best actress: julianne moore for still alice. haven't seen it yet as it just came out, but no one else knocked me out, so ok.
best director: inarritu won for birdman and i was okay with that until...
best film: birdman. what. a. fucking. joke. boyhood was robbed.

birdman was number 3 or 4 on my top ten for the year, so it's not like i don't love it, but boyhood was truly transcendent. i've seen it three times in the theater now and it's gotten better and better the more i've watched it. not to get ahead of myself, but it might be in the top 3 in the 2010s.

anyway, dan kois said it best in slate: it was an epochal travesty to give it to birdman over boyhood. they both deserve acclaim, but that was a shame. then again, dan links to mark harris's article in grantland which accurately predicted that the academy voters are simply far too self-absorbed not to give best picture to a movie that is so squarely centered in their world of celebrity and "art".

I think you need to see Grand Budapest Hotel. It deserves best production design (though I have not seen interstellar yet). It was a beautiful movie. I would not have given it best score though.

I think Keaton should have gotten best actor. Coincidentally, the only person nominated for a fictional character.

Also, I agree that Boyhood clearly deserved best picture.

Watching Inherent Vice tonight. Imitation Game should not have won anything. It was a lukewarm telling of a tale already told in movie form adequately. This brought nothing new to the story for me.

 

[jbutler]

I think you need to see Grand Budapest Hotel. It deserves best production design (though I have not seen interstellar yet). It was a beautiful movie. I would not have given it best score though.

i'm sure i'll end up watching it at some point, but i'm kind of done with wes anderson. he burned out pretty early for me. royal tenenbaums was the last thing i thought was truly great. since then his little twee charming act just grates on my nerves.

i'm sure the production design was beautiful, but at this point his movies are basically nothing but production design, with the plot and writing take the backseat.

on inherent vice: i think you'll like it on first watch - i certainly did - but it takes at least two watches to really settle into its rhythm and not try to wish the movie was doing this or that instead of what it's actually doing. at least that was my experience. it went way up on a second watch and up a little further on a third.

 

[Chicken Rob]

i'm sure i'll end up watching it at some point, but i'm kind of done with wes anderson. he burned out pretty early for me. royal tenenbaums was the last thing i thought was truly great. since then his little twee charming act just grates on my nerves.

i'm sure the production design was beautiful, but at this point his movies are basically nothing but production design, with the plot and writing take the backseat.

on inherent vice: i think you'll like it on first watch - i certainly did - but it takes at least two watches to really settle into its rhythm and not try to wish the movie was doing this or that instead of what it's actually doing. at least that was my experience. it went way up on a second watch and up a little further on a third.

Was planning on watching inherent vice last night. Watched Anvil! and Last Days Here instead. I guess Inherent Vice will come up this weekend.

Well, based on your Wes Anderson take, don't rush to the movie. This was the first of his moveis I've seen since the Tenenbaums, and as such I was less tired of him I guess.

 

[jbutler]

the new releases over the past several weeks have been fucking dismal, but i did make it out to see Chappie this past weekend and i have to say i really pleasantly surprised. this is the new film my District 9 and Elysium director Neill Blomkamp.

the reviews have been bad and even the spare praise is often qualified. and i guess i'll qualify mine as well by saying that the movie has some problems: the story is sometimes shaky, the acting spotty, and sometimes it toes the line between homage and borrowing. still, it showed a director willing to go out on a limb in ways that very few do. particularly where he so recently disappointed studio expectations with Elysium, you'd expect to see an up-and-coming director willing to put artistic intentions to the side to show that he's got what it takes to helm big movies. even more particularly when it's known that the studios are watching to see if you're equipped to handle one of the biggest reboots of all time (the planned alien reboot).

but blomkamp flat out does not give a fuck. he casts die antwoord as the (partially) unlikable gang who guides chappie in his escapades; he ensures an R-rating with the brutal violence and language; he crafts uncomfortably dark sequences that would honestly just depress most normal people; he never strays from south africa in attempting to explain the phenomenon that develops on screen. and all this in the context of what could be reasonably described as a comedic film. i guarantee none of this shit was included at the behest of a producer.

it is all quite obviously his vision as anyone who appreciated District 9 can see. he's willing to make people uncomfortable and to make explicitly political movies. he did the latter - and to a much less extent the former - in Elysium, but not nearly as effectively as in District 9. now in Chappie he goes back to the well of District 9 in a good way.

i enjoyed watching it and i liked it as i thought on it for the several hours after the movie, but after several days, i have to say that i loved it.

don't go expecting a fun, blockbuster ride. it is that to some degree, but where the movie shines is in its ideas and its aesthetic. Jerry used to say about the Grateful Dead that they were like licorice - "not everybody likes licorice, but the people who like licorice really like licorice." i imagine Chappie will have the same effect.

 

[detroitdad]

I don't have time for an extended review. This isn't a new movie. My son and I watched a Korean flick yesterday. "A Man From Nowhere". This flick is outstanding. There are several action scenes that are jaw dropping. The final act is one of the best fight scenes I have ever witnesses. Just spectacular.

Some might think it starts off a little slow. I would disagree. The character development is top notch. You care about the characters in the movie. Its in the vein of the Raid Movies, but with maybe little less action, but better over all character development and improved story telling. http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1527788/?ref_=fn_al_tt_2

 

[jbutler]

i saw It Follows this past weekend and it was great:

i've been meaning to post about it since saturday and i have to thank malaka for the recommendation during BBotB.

i've been really glad to see the heavy john carpenter influence over indie horror films over the past few years. none have quite nailed it - this one included - but they're getting closer and closer.

i don't have quite the time to do an in-depth review, but just by bullet points, what i loved in It Follows:

- the score. perfect from start to finish.
- the camerawork. the director knows the art of the push in and his 360 shots struck just the right chords at just the right times.
- the art direction and set and costume designs. the technology and styles on display in the film keep you constantly unsure as to when exactly this is taking place. there's a clamshell (as in literally a clam-shaped shell) e-reader which i've never seen and couldn't google; they watch tube televisions; i can't recall a smartphone or computer.

overall highly recommended.

 

[detroitdad]

i saw It Follows this past weekend and it was great:

i've been meaning to post about it since saturday and i have to thank malaka for the recommendation during BBotB.

i've been really glad to see the heavy john carpenter influence over indie horror films over the past few years. none have quite nailed it - this one included - but they're getting closer and closer.

i don't have quite the time to do an in-depth review, but just by bullet points, what i loved in It Follows:

- the score. perfect from start to finish.
- the camerawork. the director knows the art of the push in and his 360 shots struck just the right chords at just the right times.
- the art direction and set and costume designs. the technology and styles on display in the film keep you constantly unsure as to when exactly this is taking place. there's a clamshell (as in literally a clam-shaped shell) e-reader which i've never seen and couldn't google; they watch tube televisions; i can't recall a smartphone or computer.

overall highly recommended.

I'm not into the standard "horror" flicks. This one looks interesting, and not quite "standard".

Thanks for the review.

B

My boy and I watched Magnolia the other day. I like it right up until the down pouring of frogs.

 

[Toby]

We finally got around to watching Nightcrawler. Over three separate nights, thanks to child interruption!

Good flick. Jake Ganglianhall puts in a great turn as a sociopathic creep. Very nuanced performance.

 

[jbutler]

okay, it might end up being shit and even though i'm not typically a fan of biopics, i'm actually kind of psyched to see this.

 

[manamongkids]

Im waiting on the Furious 7 movie review

 

[jbutler]

Im waiting on the Furious 7 movie review

i'll be seeing it tomorrow, so i'll take copious notes.

 

[manamongkids]

i'll be seeing it tomorrow, so i'll take copious notes.

IMAX?

 

[jbutler]

IMAX?

fuck no, standard all the way.

if i could see all movies on an actual IMAX screen i would gladly pay for it. however, most IMAX screens - maybe all? - in big theater chains aren't to the original IMAX specs. also, my local theater has these seats in their standard theaters:

and these in the IMAX theater (in order to get more butts in seats and more dollahs):

no real choice imo. la-z-boys ainec.